Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting 7% of the population over 65 years of age and characterized clinically by progressive loss of intellectual function and pathologically by a continuing loss of neurons from the cerebral cortex.
Deposits of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides surrounded by dystrophic neurites (neuritic plaques) are a hallmark of AD. There are currently no effective therapies for arresting or reversing the impairment of cognitive function that characterizes AD. There is a need in the art for effective therapies for treating AD and related disorders.